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Ukraine Truce Proposal
Ukraine sent Russia an offer suggesting both sides halt attacks on civilian targets in the Black Sea, with the proposal transmitted by Kyiv through a third party and Ukraine still waiting for a response.
“Ukraine passed a proposal to Russia through a third-party intermediary on August 13”
The offer came as Ukrainian strikes forced all three of Russia’s major grain export terminals at Novorossiysk offline, after Russia had already cut Ukraine’s own grain shipments by 75% compared with the same period last year.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said Moscow had not received “any formal proposals,” while acknowledging that Russia had recently been hearing “many calls for various kinds of moratoriums and truces.”
The Reuters report also tied the diplomatic push to fears about global food supplies amid intensified attacks on vessels and ports that are used for exports, and it noted that alternatives for shipping are extremely limited, including rail and a route via the Danube.
Novorossiysk Strikes and Numbers
Ukrainian strikes carried out overnight on August 12 targeted the Novorossiysk naval base and port using Neptune missiles, Palianytsia missile-drones, and maritime unmanned surface vessels (USVs).
Novorossiysk regional Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said three people, including an eight-year-old child, were killed and 24 were injured, while the strikes forced all three of Novorossiysk’s major grain export terminals offline.
The Novorossiysk Grain Terminal, owned by Demetra-Holding, and the Novorossiysk Bread Products Plant, an OZK Group subsidiary, halted operations on August 12, and the KSK terminal operated by Delo Group followed on August 13 with its management citing worker safety.
The same reporting said Russia’s agriculture ministry was working to redirect cargo flows to alternative ports, and it described the broader effect as a dual agricultural crisis with no parallel in the current war.
Food Supply Stakes and U.S. Link
The proposal and the strikes were framed against a backdrop of export disruption, with the Reuters-linked reporting saying Russia’s de facto blockade of Black Sea ports sent Ukrainian grain exports tumbling 76% year-on-year so far in August.
“The current de facto blockade of Black Sea ports has sent Ukrainian grain exports tumbling 76% year-on-year”
Ukraine’s agriculture minister Taras Vysotskyi warned that if the situation keeps going, there would be “once again a global price increase of at least 25, 30 percent, with all the consequences we had in 2022 for world food inflation,” while the reporting also said Ukraine’s grain storage facilities were filling with a new harvest projected at around 60 million tonnes.
The same Reuters-linked account said the storage shortfall could reach 11 million tonnes, and it described the UN and Turkey deal after the 2022 invasion as allowing Ukrainian grain exports to continue until Russia refused to renew it in 2023.
Separately, the Financial Times reported that President Zelenskyy halted drone strikes on oil tankers in the Black Sea following a request from U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who raised concerns that the campaign was harming American companies by targeting vessels hauling Kazakh crude oil through Novorossiysk.
